LABORATORY specimens have been flown between Borders General Hospital and Edinburgh by drone in a ground-breaking project.

A three-week flight trial, a first for Scotland, took place involving NHS Borders and NHS Lothian.

Live flying was carried out between the Edinburgh BioQuarter next to the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh and the Borders’ main hospital near Melrose.

Samples which inform urgent clinical decision-making are usually transported by road and can take several hours between the two health boards.

That could be cut to 35 minutes under Project CAELUS, led by AGS Airports in partnership with NHS Scotland.

Fiona Smith, project director for Project CAELUS, said: “Our consortium has been working extremely hard to get to this stage and we are delighted we have been able to test this important use case for the NHS.

“Transporting laboratory specimens by drone could speed up the clinical decision making allowing for same day diagnosis and treatment.

“It is also one of the first times in the UK that there has been a demonstration of beyond the visual line of sight medical drone operations transiting between controlled and uncontrolled airspace.

“This is an important milestone for our project and we now look forward to testing more potential use cases by drone across Scotland in the coming months.”

Invited guests were involved in a special event on Wednesday (August 21) showcasing the live flight trial. 

Project CALEUS is working with 16 consortium partners to deliver what will be the first national drone network that can transport essential medicines, bloods and other medical supplies throughout Scotland including to remote communities.

 Hazel Dempsey, the CAELUS NHS Scotland programme lead, said: “Our aim, from an NHS perspective, is to explore opportunities where drone technology could benefit patients and NHS services in urban, remote, rural and island landscapes.

“The NHS is reliant on van logistics that have provided valuable service for decades, however these can take time, travelling hundreds of road miles each day. In some parts of Scotland, patients who live in remote and rural locations are dependent on ferry or airline availability. 

“This project will enable the NHS to consider if drone technology is viable and able to contribute to improving the health and wellbeing of our population. This project will position the United Kingdom and NHS Scotland as a leader in the healthcare and aviation industries.”

Laura Jones, director of quality & improvement at NHS Borders, said: "We are proud to be involved in Project CAELUS, exploring how drone technology could provide an additional logistics service to enhance access to essential medical supplies particularly in rural parts of Scotland like the Scottish Borders. 

“Our involvement in this project is part of our commitment to providing high quality person-centred care by modernising services so that they are fit for the future using the technologies that are available to us going forward."

Since January 2020 the CAELUS consortium has designed drone landing stations for NHS sites across Scotland.

In October 2023, in a hugely successful trial, flying took place between Glasgow Airport and NHS Golden Jubilee in Clydebank.